WISCONSIN REGIONAL TRAINING PARTNERSHIP

The Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership (WRTP) is an energetic, highly visible, multi-union, multi-employer sectoral effort to link employers, workers and unions in the joint mission of improving worker training and preserving jobs in the Greater Milwaukee manufacturing industries.

History

The Wisconsin AFL-CIO, realizing that its displaced worker programs were a limited response to state economic problems, sought broader solutions by working with the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) at the University of Wisconsin. Research revealed jobs could be retained in the metalworking industry, but this would require a consortium of unions and employers. Endorsed by the Governor's Commission on Workforce Quality, the WRTP was organized by the Wisconsin AFL-CIO as a jointly governed labor-management organization. Since its founding in 1991as a not-for-profit corporation, WRTP has grown to include 56 firms, 60,000 workers and 42 local and 14 international unions. Covering all manufacturing activity, it has been able to achieve an economy of scale by bringing partners together and by merging activities within the firms. An initial focus on incumbent workers opened the doors for other opportunities, including school-to-work programming for youths, welfare-to-work help for unemployed workers and modernization for firms. WRTP is a national model for labor-driven intervention into the economy.

Goals

• To retain and expand high-quality employment in the metalworking industry;
• To build an effective, collaborative relationship between unions and employers;
• To upgrade the skills of workers and firms;
• To promote intra-union and intra-firm collaborations;
• To provide a union and worker voice in the workplace and the economy;
• To work with public institutions and agencies in support of skill development and quality employment opportunities.

Activities

Activities are divided into three broad areas--Workplace Education, Modernization and the Future Workforce. Each has joint labor-management committee oversight. A facilitative planning process for labor and management identifies needs and concerns and forms the backbone of all services. WRTP serves as an intermediary that links WRTP employers and unions to public funding for both workforce development and modernization. It also brings employers and unions together to allow them to learn from each other.

• Workplace Education: WRTP assists in the development of on-site or multi-site learning centers, the provision of upgrade training, public funding and peer mentoring advising systems.
• Modernization: WRTP provides technical assistance to labor and management on technological and work organization change. Partnership task forces focus on strategic training initiatives, high performance workplaces and new compensation systems.
• Future Workforce: The Future Workforce Working Group addresses the training needs of adult new entrants and youths making the transition from school to work.

Impacts

• By 1999, privately negotiated employer funding had supplanted the public monies used to start several worker education centers.
• WRTP has generated more than $21 million in private investments, with more than 6,000 people receiving training each year.
• The initial focus on incumbent workers needs eased concerns over public programs opening union and firm involvement in programs, such as school-to-work and welfare-to-work programs.
• WRTP improved access to good jobs for low-income workers. In 1997-1999 more than 400 workers were placed through WRTP, obtaining full benefits and more than doubling their annual income to $22,500.
• WRTP is one of the largest networks of its kind in the nation covering more than 60,000 workers, 56 firms and 42 local and 14 international unions. It has inspired additional sectoral organizing efforts in Wisconsin and other regions of the country.
• WRTP increased visibility and leadership for the Wisconsin AFL-CIO on state economic policy.